Go to Paragon Magazine Website

Thursday, February 24, 2011

March is Metal Month!

EMI Music’s Label Services/Caroline Distribution is celebrating its third year of bringing metal to the masses with the “March is Metal Month” campaign, connecting retailers with metal fans across the US. The retail campaign will this year include promotions from such legendary labels as Century Media, Nuclear Blast, Earache, Candlelight, Season of Mist, Willow Tip, Prospect Park and Capitol Records.

“March Is Metal Month” will encourage consumers to visit retail stores to pick up a special MMM CD sampler which includes hotly anticipated pre-release tracks from Winds of Plague, Cradle of Filth, Agnostic Front and Kill Corps. As well as the sampler, fans will be able to get their hands on a limited edition T-shirt designed by artist Rich Hall. There will also be the opportunity to win exclusive prizes at MMM participating retailers, with the Season of Mist, Earache and Candlelight labels all offering exclusive prize packs. Record Store Day’s Metal Crew (an independent retail initiative) partnered with EMI Label Services/Caroline Distribution in making sure each store participating received the sampler and T-shirts.

Don Robertson, President of Century Media said, "We’re very proud that this is ‘March is Metal Month's” third year of connecting fans with the music they love. As well as focusing retail attention on metal, this is also a chance to share music with fans from some of our biggest artists ahead of street date. Last year we featured Lacuna Coil, and this year we’re happy to have Winds of Plague on board. This is becoming an important platform for the fans to hear the music first.” Century Media artists Suicide Silence and Rockstar will also be contributing two tickets to this years’ Rockstar Mayhem Festival for lucky winners of the "Show Us Your Metal" campaign via the website Metal Sucks, which can be found at www.metalsucks.net.

“It’s hard to believe we are celebrating our third year of ‘March is Metal Month’, says EMI Label Services/Caroline Distribution EVP/GM Mike Harris. ”EMI Label Services /Caroline Distribution is home to some of the greatest metal labels in the world, and this campaign allows us to expose the repertoire from these great labels to both the trade and consumer alike.”

Al Dawson from Earache said, "We are honored and excited to be a part of ‘March Is Metal Month’ once again! We’re happy to feature two Canadian acts from opposite ends of the metal spectrum -- the blackened doom act, Woods of Ypres and the traditional metal act Cauldron. They've created two of the best releases of 2011 to date, and we think fans will love their albums as much as we do."

During March, EMI Label Services and Caroline will team up with key online metal websites to drive fans to independent retailers.

Metalinsider will be running Q&As with bands and labels participating in March is Metal campaign, among them - Deicide, Motorhead, Kylesa and Season of Mist label President, Michael Berbarian. Metal Insider will also host an Enter to Win – prizes include a Celtic Frost Box Set, A Carcass Box set and a Five Finger Death Punch Skate Deck.

Metal Sucks will run a "Show Us Your Metal" promotion inviting fans to visit their favorite record store and take a picture of themselves in the metal section adorned with band t-shirts, corpse paint, Viking helmets, swords, spikes or other metal gear. The winning metalhead selected will receive 2 tickets to The Rockstar Mayhem Festival courtesy Century Media artist Suicide Silence and Rockstar. Runner ups will receive a Carcass boxset and Five Finger Death Punch skate deck.

Metal Injection is creating an online channel dedicated to “March is Metal Month”-featured artists include– Kylesa, Woods of Ypres, Cradle of Filth, Winds of Plague, Kill Corps, Fear Factory and Havok. You can watch the videos at www.Metalinjection.tv/marchismetalmonth .

You can find out more about March is Metal on Facebook; Twitter or log onto our website at www.marchismetalmonth.com. The website has full details of which local retailers are participating in the MMM promotion